Chapter 60

The Newly Freed slaves in Yunkai had gathered together in a courtyard that was formally used as a gathering for selling Unsullied soldiers.

They were gathered because Maximus had a plan to help them fit into society. Maximus first had some soldiers bring up some signs and set up some stands. Each stand had a different name on it, from military to a builder.

The people had to decide on what they wanted to do, but they weren't just going to be used for free labor since they will be paid as any normal person would only while working they will also be learning to fit in with society and learn the norms of how to be a citizen and a free person.

The children of the former slaves would go to schools that will be built in the cities, but for now they will have to go to Qohor to attend school until the schools are built in their cities.

The schools in Qohor had more than enough space to accommodate the children from the newly conquered cities.

After a few seconds, the first people started moving towards some of the stands that they wanted to do. After the first few people started lining up, all the other people followed behind them.

Many of the former Slaves had slave given names, some of which were bad names, so every former slave had to come up with a new name for themselves as they signed up for a job. This way they can start truly being Free by coming up with a name for themselves.

After a few hours, all the former slaves had now signed up for the job that they wanted to do. Majority of the people chose hard labor work such as construction, while a few people chose the army.

Yunkai wasn't the only city that did this, as Maximus had officers in the other conquered cities do the same thing. And Within a couple of months, the Empire will have received a massive boost in labor and in other areas in the Empire, such as the army.

While the war in Essos had ended and life for the people were improving, it was different for Westeros as the Northern army led by Robb Stark had won its first battle breaking the siege of Riverrun and capturing Jamie Lannister or more commonly known as the Kingslayer.

With this great victory, the Robb Stark now had a bargaining chip against the Lannisters, and they would use that to exchange for Ned Stark, Sansa Stark, and Arya Stark. But currently Arya Stark is walking amongst the streets of Kingslanding hoping to find a way to get food while hiding from the guards of Kingslanding.

Both Arrya and her sister Sansa were being kept tabs on by Maximus's Shadow Guard. They were not told to make a move yet, so they will remain in the Shadows until they are given orders to do otherwise.

But the next day at the scepters Baelor Ned Stark who had agreed to confess of being a traitor to the crown was brought out to the people of Kingslanding. The people were calling him all types of names and throwing things at him as he was escorted to the Baelor.

Once at the Baelor he confessed to his false crimes of plotting to murder Robert's son and seize the crown for himself. He then announces that Joffrey is the true King of the seven Kingdoms and other titles.

But that didn't satisfy Joffrey at all, and he wanted his head. Cersei tried to stop him, well, tried is a bit of an overstatement since she could have just stopped the execution, but she only stood there while telling Joffrey to stop, but he still didn't listen.

As Lord Eddard looked out to the crowd, all he saw was people that hated him and wanted to see his death.

As he looked down at the ground taking his last few breaths, his head was taken off his shoulders as Joffrey smiled and both of his daughters Sansa and Arya were there to witness the entire thing. They watched as their father head was chopped off.

The sounds of the crowd still continued as his head was chopped off. Arya was being carried away by Yoren the night's watch recruiter. Sansa was still crying as she was being held back by a knight of the Kingsguard.

That day was a dark day for House Stark, and only a week later did the other members of House Stark find out about Ned Stark's execution by King Joffrey.

Throughout the day the members of house Stark were mourning the death of Lord Eddard while his wife was hit the hardest along with her son Robb.

The night of receiving the letter of Ned's death, the lords of the North were meeting to decide their next move. Swear allegiance to Renly and join him or Join Stannis, but in the end they all decided to swear allegiance to Robb Stark and make him King in the North.

While the Lords were talking, a guard had interrupted, saying how a suspicious lady wanted to meet him.

Robb had the person brought to him and all the other Lords to see who this person was and what they wanted.

A couple of minutes waiting, a beautiful woman was brought before Robb wearing foreign clothes

"My Lord, My Lady, My name is Liana, and I am here upon the order of my lady to offer her condolences for the death of your husband Lady Stark and your father Lord Stark" Said Liana

"And who is this lady you speak of" Asked Lord Robb

"My Lady is a very powerful person in the Empire serving the Emperor who was in contact with Lord Eddard some months before his life was taken" Said Liana

Robb had looked at his mother to see if she had anything to say, "And why was the Emperor in contact with my husband months before his death" Asked Lady Stark

"The Emperor wanted to help Lord Eddard with his investigation into how the previous hand Jon Arryn died so he offered some support by giving Lord Eddard some information regarding a book which would show him the answer to why and how Jon Arryn died" Said Liana

"And what my father find in this book" Asked Robb

"He found out the truth about Robert's children which was that they weren't actually his children and were instead children born between the Queen and her Brother Jamie Lannister" Said Liana

This caused the Lords to start talking amongst themselves about this since if this was true then Joffrey is not the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms.

After everybody quieted down, Liana continued "After finding out the truth he threatened Cersei that he was going to tell Robert about what he found out once Robert came back from his hunt, but unfortunately Robert came back severely injured and met his demise a few hours later" Said Liana as she continued

"But before King Robert died, he made Lord Eddard his Regent and Protector of the Realm until Joffrey comes of age, but the Lannisters had already taken over and Joffrey was to be crowned as the next King, this is where Lord Eddard was summoned to court and to swear his allegiance to King Joffrey, but he refused, so he was imprisoned, from there on you know the rest of the story" Said Liana

"So he was killed because he found out that the queen's children were actually from her brother and not Robert" Asked Lady Stark as she was frustrated

"yes my Lady" Said Liana

The rest of the lords were getting angry at what they just heard, but no harm was done to Liana since she wasn't the cause of it.

"But that is not the only reason I am here, as My lady wants to offer House Stark the Empire's support in getting revenge on the Lannisters once the Emperor returns from dealing with things in Slaver Bay" Said Liana

"Why do the Empire want to help us" Asked Robb

"Because my Lady's sister her father was murdered at the hands of the Lannisters and now House Stark has had something similar happen to them, and we now have a common enemy the Lannisters" Said Liana

After thinking for a while, one of the lords stood up and asked, "how can we trust the Empire"

This caused everybody to look at Liana, "I can only say that whether you trust us is up to you, but sooner or later the Emperor will come to Westeros with his armies and there will be no one to stop him from destroying the Lannisters and expanding his Empire, but if you accept our offer than you can remain as an independent Kingdom and rule your selves" Said Liana

One of the Lords stood up "So we either accept your deal right here or in the future we will have to face each other on the battlefield" Said the Lord

"My Lord I think it is a good deal we can remain independent and rule ourselves and having some support will be nice especially from such a powerhouse" Said one of the lords. This lord has made various deals with the Empire regarding the trading of food and other things and has sent people to visit the Empire lands and knows how powerful the Empire is.

The other lords had all agreed with what was said while Robb was thinking about his decision

"Also my Lord, we can rescue both Sansa and Arya at any given time" Said Liana

"If you can rescue my sisters then we have a deal" said Robb since if he could get his sisters then all he would need to do is to focus on the Lannisters

"Also My lord, since we have a deal, this is a gift to you" said Liana as she handed Robb a sword enchanted with runes.

"This is a very powerful sword that can cut through a person easily and is a gift from my Lady to you to show how much we appreciate this agreement between us" Said Liana

Robb unsheathed the sword and examined it, and thought that it felt good when he was holding it.

"Then My Lord I will now take my Leave" Said Liana as she vanished right in front of all the lords of the North.

This agreement was set up by Aerella, who was given the supreme power of all diplomatic things between the Empire and the Kingdoms of Westeros.